Interconnected nanoporous polymeric materials are important in a variety of applications including catalysis and filtration, where the formation of a continuous pore structure is often beneficial. While several methods of preparing such nanoporous polymeric materials have been developed, they suffer from various synthetic limitations. For example, methods utilizing diblock copolymers suffer from issues relating to formation only over a very narrow range of polymer composition, for example, of about 5 volume percent (vol %), requiring precisely controlled synthesis and processing conditions. Likewise, methods utilizing polymerization induced phase separation suffer from a morphology that is kinetically trapped during polymerization requiring a fine control of the competition between the rates of phase separation and polymerization to obtain the desired structure.
An improved porous material having a continuous pore structure and a method of making such a material is therefore desired. An anisotropic porous material and a method of making such a material would further be desirable.